Nicholas D. Kristof on the assault weapons ban:

President Bush promised in the last presidential campaign to support an extension of the ban, which was put in place in 1994 for 10 years. “It makes no sense for assault weapons to be around our society,” Mr. Bush observed at the time.

These days Mr. Bush still says that he’ll sign an extension of the ban if it happens to reach his desk. But he knows that the only way the ban can be extended on time is if he actually urges its passage, and he refuses to do that. So his promise to support an extension rings hollow – it’s not exactly a lie, but it’s not the full truth, either.

Mr. Bush’s flip-flop is surprising because he has generally had the courage of his convictions. Apparently he’s hiding from this issue because it’s so politically charged.

Yes, Bush is playing politics. Thank God it’s an election year or he’d be pushing for it. However, he wants gun owner votes. Look for it after the election. Continuing:

Critics of the assault weapon ban have one valid point: the ban has more holes than Swiss cheese.

“The big frustration of my customers is that [the ban] removed things that were kind of fun and made it look cool, but didn’t affect how the gun operated,” said Sean Wontor, a salesman who heaved two rifles onto the counter of Sportsman’s Warehouse here in Meridian to make his point.

Actually, we have many points, including the fact that CDC and NIJ have concluded the ban has no effect on crime.

So far so good, but then he says:

Still, assault weapons, while amounting to only 1 percent of America’s 190 million privately owned guns, account for a hugely disproportionate share of gun violence precisely because of their macho appeal.

I’d like to see some sort of citation for this stat because to my knowledge that is not the case. Taking the VPC talking points and reporting them as fact borders on dishonesty.

Assault weapons aren’t necessary for any kind of hunting or target shooting, but they’re popular because they can transform a suburban Walter Mitty into Rambo, for a lot less money than a Hummer.

What’s hunting got to do with it? And, having just admitted there’s no difference in functionality above, you’d think he’d realize the Rambo reference is misplaced as somone could act all Rambo with a post-ban rifle.

I grew up on an Oregon farm that bristled with guns to deal with the coyotes that dined on our sheep. Having fired everything from a pistol to a machine gun, I can testify that shooting can be a lot of fun. But consider the cost: 29,000 gun deaths in America each year.

While gun statistics are as malleable as Play-Doh, they do underscore that assault weapons are a special problem in America.

They accounted for 8.4 percent of the guns traced to crimes between 1988 and 1991, and they are still used in one in five fatal shootings of police officers. If anything, we should be plugging the holes in the ban by having it cover copycat weapons without bayonet mounts, instead of moving backward and allowing a new flood of weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Ah, the patented I’ve shot guns before justification is quite John Kerryish. The statistics you cite (assault weapons traced to crime and the one in five police deaths) have both been discredited. The former is a useless statistic that proves nothing and the latter is a blatant lie by the VPC.

The bottom line is that Mr. Bush’s waffling on assault weapons will mean more dead Americans.

About 100 times as many Americans are already dying from gunfire in the U.S. as in Iraq. As many Americans die from firearms every six weeks as died in the 9/11 attacks – yet the White House is paralyzed on this issue.

About half of those gun deaths are suicides and most gun deaths are the result of handguns, not assault weapons. On September 14, we will not see an increase in gun violence. And the attempt to tie the weapons to Iraq is rhetoric comparable to the weapons of mass destruction, weapon of choice of criminals, and favored by terrorists nonsense we’ve seen in other media outlets. None of which is true.

I do applaud the fact he never once used the alarming and false talking point about AK47s and Uzis hitting the streets but the rest of the rhetoric is based on falsehoods.

Posted in uncategorized on August 18th, 2004 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |